Following the political unrest and the worldwide pandemic, Beirut Airport activity retracted by 14.77% year-on-year (YOY) in May 2021.
Accordingly, the number of passengers was reduced notably, falling from 1,234,144 passengers by May 2020 to 1051,913 passengers by May 2021. In details, total arrivals alone dropped by an annual 10.91% reaching 496,184 arrivals. By the same token, departures decreased by 17.45% (YOY) to 530,322 passengers. In its turn, the number of transit passengers also slipped by a yearly 26.91% to 25,407 passengers by May 2021.
In addition, data on occupancy as per E&Y benchmark survey revealed that the occupancy rate at Beirut’s 4- and 5- stars hotels fell to a low of 27% by March 2021. And the average room rate rose by 193.9% from $76 in March 2020 to $224 in March 2021. However, the increase is inflated by valuing the room rates at the overvalued official exchange rate of 1,500 LBP per USD.
The number of passenger might increase in the upcoming months, as the numbers of cases of Covid-19 are dropping significantly worldwide. However, Lebanon is still suffering from several crises, as the Lebanese people are struggling to secure their basic needs amid the talk about lifting the subsidies on all essential goods, which can cause security issues as the number of crimes has raised significantly this year. This could slow down the number of visitors to the country.
Beirut’s Airport Activity By May
